Plagarism Essay, Research Paper
Plagiarism
Plagiarism refers to the presentation or submission of the work of anotherwithout citation or credits, as your own work. Whenever the thoughts, words,drawings, designs, are copied and displayed as your own work this is
plagiarizing. Using others direct quotation or paraphrasing, the author and the
source must be clearly identified through the use of proper referencing. (i.e..,footnotes, endnotes) (Meltzer 2)
The Internet has provided new avenues to plagiarism: Cut-and-paste
plagiarism. This is when you highlight a portion of a paper, then paste it to your own. This procedure is very common and very easy to anyone who has access
to the internet. (Johnston 98) You can also find websites offering you free term papers, essays, book reports, and research paper written by others an posted on websites. Hiring someone over the internet is another example. (Johnston 106) You can join the club for a certain price yearly or monthly, or you can pay per page for your written paper.
Students in high school and universities are the most likely to submit
plagiarized papers, such as essays, book reports, reports, research papers, and
term papers. On most university campus’, up to 75% of students admit to some
cheating. (Follette 87) Students believe that few cheaters are getting caught and those who do, punishments are very lenient. Lower levels of cheating are foundwhere the primary responsibility for academic integrity has been placed in the hands of students, generally through an honor code. (Johnston 201)
Students who plagiarize generally fall into two categories. The first
includes those who have difficulty writing correct, coherent essays. They may
never have received good instruction in writing; they may never have done much
writing; they may not be native speakers of English and have difficulty writing
in English. (Meltzer 119) Whatever the reason, they find that after working long
and hard, they still receive a low grade on their writing. Out of frustration and fear, they may plagiarize an essay, copying it word for word or making only a few slight changes in the wording. (Follette 214)
The second category consists of students who, though they can write well
enough, find plagiarism tempting. Generally, these students either fear getting a grade that is lower than the one they or their parents expect them to get, or have fallen behind in their course work and feel they do not have time to write an essay. (Meltzer 120) They may feel that they cannot handle the assigned task or that they don’t have any good ideas on the subject.
Even good students occasionally fall behind in their course work. When
this happens, you should discuss the matter with your teacher. He or she may
penalize you for submitting work late, but late work is preferable to plagiarized work. (Johnston 229)
Teachers can detect plagiarism in a numerous amount of ways. By
checking for unusual formatting or formatting that does not match what you
require. In particular, check for website printout page numbers or dates, grayed
out letters and unusual use of upper/lower case and capitalization. (Follette 24) Notice any advanced vocabulary or sentence structure. Read quotations
carefully. (Follette 25) Reference the original assignment. Are any portions of
the assignment completely left out? Do any portions read like they were “added
on” to the paper? Is it the correct type of paper, e.g. descriptive, position, first person, narrative? Review the bibliography. Is the correct citation style used? Is the citation style used consistently? Does it match the sources referenced in the paper? Are there many items that the library does not have? If teachers indicate any type of these questions, it is most likely that the person that wrote the paper plagiarized. Teachers need to be more aware of this problem. (Meltzer 49)
Teachers can prevent plagiarism by defining this problem to them.
Require students to engage and apply ideas, not just describe them. Require
students to reflect personally on the topic or the processes of research and
writing, either in the paper or as an additional writing assignment. (Meltzer 56) Encourage student government to develop honor codes addressing plagiarism
and cheating. (Johnston 29) Students often find it difficult to determine the
difference between acceptable collaboration and plagiarism. Be sensitive to the
differences in standards for citation and documentation that exist in different
cultures. (Follette 258) Using these processes will help students understand the
reasons why not to plagiarize.
Learning how to use sources is one of the most important things you will
learn in school. By using sources well and by clearly indicating your reason to
these sources, your writing gains authority, clarity, and precision. (Meltzer 78) A discussion with a well-informed and thoughtful person helps us think more
clearly. Using sources in writing is a way of developing such a discussion.
Writers who plagiarize lose the advantages of belonging to an intellectual community. If they are professionals, they may be barred from practicing their profession or their work may not be taken seriously. (Johnston 243) If they are students, they will carry the disgrace of having plagiarized. Teachers will be suspicious of their work and will be unwilling to support any of their future efforts, write recommendations for them, or even work with them at all. (Johnston 245) Plagiarism is one of the worst mistakes anyone can make.
You should not, however, become too irritable about plagiarism. Writers
cannot hope to indicate or even be aware of all their borrowings, and there is a
point where an idea borrowed from someone else becomes, after long reflection,
your own. (Follette 310) So long as you are scrupulous about indicating material
you have quoted and immediate borrowings you’ve made in paraphrases, you